When I started as an animator at Warner Bros. 15 years ago, my mentor Frank Molieri gave me a list of things to keep in mind when I’m animting. I kept it pinned up on my board and its hanging on my board at Pixar. I think it came from his days at Bluth. Alot of these lists have been passed on from one animator to another. The other list that I posted was given to me by Chuck Harvey, who is a great old Disney Animator who used to work with the great Milt Kahl. The scan is a photo copy of an original that was sitting in a box of amazing work that was done by Milt which he had. As you can see, it has the stains of time on it. Feel free to print them out and hang them on your wall. What they say is Gold. I think its a great idea to surround yourself with inspiration like this. Things that keep you in check. These days, I have more pictures of my daughter and wife, but I still like to have things around me that really do inspire me. I remember being in Glen Keanes’ office at Disney. He had so many great works of art up that were inspiring him for his work on Rapunzel. On every production. I think directly or indirectly it can influence your work. I like to clean off my board and put up stuff that gets me excited about the character or work I’m doing. I wanted to know if anyone else had any things they had hanging up that keep them going… Please write it in the message box or email me an image of something you think might help another animator… A list, An Image, a poem… etc etc… It all can help.

-Andrew

25 Comments |

Graham

I’ve got a drawing of a light switch. Also other various post-its with reminders. I’m gonna print out this list thou. Thanks!

I’m a junior animator, and the first thing I hanged from my borad at home were the 12 Principles of Animation. Now, I have different notes from ideas, thoughts and comments from more experienced animators. These two lists are going to join them… Thanks.

I definitely have a lot of pictures of my wife and son up, but right in front of me, stuck on the monitor, is a post-it with the words: “Keep calm and carry on!”

November 16, 2009 @ 12:12 pm

Graham

BTW is Park Place Barbers a good place for a haircut?

November 16, 2009 @ 3:54 pm

Dr. Gordon

Actually,

I forgot to take off the sticker of the bug and the phone numbers… Park Place Barbers is the place in Old Point Richmond where two old guys have been cutting hair forever… Its so old school that they have old Playboy magazines lying around for customers. If you want an old school Barber cut, Park Place Barbers was the place to go… I think they also do a hot shave… (wow, I used the word old 5 times)

November 16, 2009 @ 4:54 pm

Dan

Nice post Dr. Gordon. Since the Doug Sweetland interview you did is my all time favorite. I have picture of him on my desk. My hero.

So “today” we have Doug Sweetland with us “today”….BWAHAHAHA.
That bit cracks me up every time I hear it. So we are use to you being repetitive every once in a while. =)

Great initiative Andrew, what kinda ‘works’ for me is that whenever i see a great artist make a character study, sculpture or sketch.. I do my own version of it in a post-it and put it around my desk… just to remember and see my own interpretation of the drawing… and from time to time i check the original one and see stuff i forgot to capture and in that sense i learn faster… the same kinda formula goes with animation clips…

and also depending on what i am working on.. I change my desktop background pretty often

November 17, 2009 @ 10:50 am

mohinder

Jean-Denis Haas Wrote : “Keep calm and carry on!”

I really like that. Thanks for sharing it. Kind of reassuring to know someone of your skill might occassionaly get in a flap about there animation too!

@Mohinder: Are you kidding? You always get a shot that kicks your butt or a client that will make life just a tad more difficult, but otherwise it would be boring, no?

November 17, 2009 @ 12:41 pm

Erica Pinto

Great stuff Dr. Gordon!

I have a post-it attached to my monitor with the words “Watch first, write notes later” on it. When I first started at my current job I had quite a few vet animators who’d been all over the industry and had such good advice to give! Fresh out of college, I was eager to soak it all in and took a notebook with me wherever I went. But what I quickly realized was that much of their feedback was visual – a hand gesture, a body posture, etc. and in my fervor to write stuff down I would keep my eyes on the page and miss their acting tips all together!

So much of our craft depends on observing and doing; there’s only so much that can be gleaned from reading notes or books, especially if you weren’t paying attention to the reason why you wrote them down in the first place! So now I watch first, keep that image burned into my head and whenever I see the notes I wrote down later, the image returns.

November 17, 2009 @ 6:13 pm

Javier

A friend of mine went to L.A to watch a tribute to Milt Kahl. He brought me back a booklet that talked about Milt and on the first page it has a picture of him and then the following

“It’s a very difficult medium. Animation necessarily requires a pretty good draftsman, because you’ve got to turn things, to be able to draw well enough to turn things at every angle. You have to understand movement, which in itself is quite a study. You have to be an actor. You have to put on a performance, to be a showman, to be able to evaluate how good the entertainment is. You have to know what’s the best way of doing it, and have an appreciation of where it belongs in the picture. You have to be a pretty good story man. To be a really good animator then, you have to be a jack- of -all- trades. I don’t mean to say that I’m all these things, but I try hard. I got accused over the years of being a fine draftsman. Actually, I don’t really draw that well. It’s just that I don’t stop trying as quickly. I keep at it. I happen to have high standards and I try to meet them. I have to struggle like hell to make a drawing look good.” -Milt Kahl-

I have this on my desk (which reminds me I need to frame it still) but it inspires me because you do need to think about all of that as a animator and many students forget or don’t realize it. I hope it inspires everyone els as it does me. O and SPLINE DOCTORS ROCK!

November 18, 2009 @ 2:31 am

ggggg

I came across this a while ago and use it ALL the time.
So many great quotes, reminders, inspiration etc. from some of the best out there…

Cool post!
These are some of my favorite animation tips that I try to always keep in mind.
-SIMPLIFY!
-One idea at a time, separate actions.
-Look for opposing actions.
-Believe the Character exists (from the Eric Goldberg webinar
-Who is the character? Know them inside and out.
-Can you tell what the character is doing and how they feel on any given frame?
-Focus on the pose, milk the pose, explore the pose, push the pose!
-Don’t be afraid to hold the pose.
-Does EVERYTHING support the main idea?

Besides toys, books, artwork, and posters that inspire me in my workspace I love motivational quotes.. there are so many good ones!
One of my favorites is on a mug my mom bought for me…
“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you imagined.”

- “If you’re not feeling like you can’t do it, then you aren’t trying.”

- “Be prepared, luck is truly where preparation meets opportunity.”

- “Excellence can be obtained if you care more than others think is wise, risk more than others think is safe, dream more than others think is practical, and expect more than others think is possible.”

- “Fail fast, fail often”

- “Working hard is important, but there’s something else that’s even more important: believing in yourself. Look at it this way: every great wizard in history has started out as nothing more than we are now – students. If they can do it, why not us?” J.K. Rowling- Harry Potter (even though it’s about wizards I relate it to animation)

- “But I’ve always said to myself…..if I could do it over again, I would follow my dream. You’ve got greatness in you, Rodney. Never doubt it. You go to Robot City. You go meet Bigweld, and you show him your big ideas. And, Rodney…..never, never give up.” Robots

- Randy Pausch has great quotes in The Last Lecture
“The brick walls are there to stop the other people, the ones who don’t want it bad enough to keep going.”
“Don’t complain, just work harder.”

Walt Disney has a tons of good ones too…
“The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.”
“Somehow I can’t believe there are any heights that can’t be scaled by a man who knows the secret of making dreams come true. This special secret, it seems to me, can be summarized in four C’s. They are Curiosity, Confidence, Courage, and Constancy and the greatest of these is Confidence. When you believe a thing, believe it all the way, implicitly and unquestionably.”

I have a couple of post -its to mention:
-one from my teacher “chris kirshbaum” @ DW “It’s good to be challenged”
-Main goal: Have shots that move people
-Press on: Persistence & Determination alone are omnipotent.
-Small thinkers are scared of the future, Big thinkers are the future..
-Everyday it a step forward toward your goals and dreams.

these are the ones that stay around, others i pick up and changed to new ones or to do’s ..

November 19, 2009 @ 9:48 pm

Tania

Apart from the usual toys and film posters, everytime that i start animating on a new character i do a drawing of them in a pose that sums them up then write around it quotes and inspiring things i’ve read or head.
lots of ed hooks and jim henson quotes.

i also have a post it on my screen that says
” Do everything with your hands, even computer animation”

not sure who said it, but i love it!

The saddest thing i have is a photo my mum sent me when i was starting my first job. It’s a photo of the gates of Pixar. So i can remember where i want to get too (awww bless her sentimental socks!)

Apart from the regular technique notes that I pin up or PostIt around my desk, I keep these 2 quotes…

“Don’t make it real, make it believable”. – Ollie Johnston

“Oh, I don’t think there was a day that went by that I didn’t figure I was in the wrong profession, that I should get out of animation. I’d get so mad at something that was going on. Part of the time it was my own inability to draw what I wanted, which all of us had. I guess every artist has that kind of problem”. -Frank Thomas
( this one from Mr. Thomas, I find particularly inspirational, because it shows that even the legendary animators got stuck and had off days. If people like the great Frank Thomas got frustrated with their work, then theres hope for us all )

Thanks again!
Cheers,
G

November 20, 2009 @ 12:50 pm

Bobby Pontillas

Great post! It’s always important for me to remember what inspired me to even do this in the first place. So amidst the clutter on my desk I always at least try to have a Glen Keane sketch, any sketch , from his work on Tarzan.

November 22, 2009 @ 3:51 pm

Mayur Ahirrao

Well Im a Student …. and

Wall near my desk Have Vision Board
Consist snaps some my Fav Personalities in Animation
and few things to keep in mind always when I animate …

*Few things are impossible to diligence and skill. Great works are performed not by strength, but perseverance

November 23, 2009 @ 12:39 pm

Sonia

Thanks for sharing this!

Next to my morning alarm clock I have pinned up a quote by Brad Bird from one of his interviews “Do something that scares you, that’s at the edge of your capabilities, where you might fail. That’s what gets you up in the morning”.

Apart from this I have a random quote from Tom Bertino’s class at Academy of Art University “Why be a second Disney when you can be first someone else” It really helps me to focus on originality and innovation more than following the trends. We can’t re-invent the wheel anyways.